'My size is none of your business': The woman who sparked a debate on beauty after Facebook picture in her underwear

This is the photograph which sparked a debate among thousands of people and challenged opinions on beauty and size.

Stella Boonshoft originally posted the picture on her Tumblr account, The Body Love Blog, before it was picked up by photographer Brandon Stanton and published on his photography site Humans of New York.

Since it was posted on Thursday, 455,000 people have liked the picture and it has been shared 20,000 times.

Sparking debate: The 18-year-old, from New York City who is a U.S. size 12, says she was overwhelmed by the huge reaction to her photo, which has been viewed over 4million times since she posted it on Tumblr

The image came to be posted after Stella, a NYU student, spotted Brandon on the street in Manhattan and asked if she could take a picture of him.

In return, he asked to take a picture of her - and later posted the picture of her in a bikini which appears on her blog.

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Stella admitted that her first reaction was to 'burst into tears' when thousands of people started looking at her picture and she contemplated taking it down.

She decided to leave the picture online, where the overwhelming majority of comments have been supportive.

Stella said:'I know what I am trying to do, which is help young women struggling with their body image and expose the hypocrisy and cruelty that is sizeism, is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT whatever feelings I may have about myself.'

Proud: Stella Boonshoft posted the picture in response to everyone who has ever bulled her because of her size

'THIS IS MY BODY, DEAL WITH IT': STELLA BOONSHOFTIN HER OWN WORDS

WARNING: Picture might be considered
obscene because subject is not thin. And we all know that only skinny
people can show their stomachs and celebrate themselves. Well I’m not
going to stand for that. This is my body. Not yours. MINE. Meaning the
choices I make about it, are none of your f****** business. Meaning my
size, IS NONE OF YOUR F****** BUSINESS.

If my big belly and fat arms and
stretch marks and thick thighs offend you, then that’s okay. I’m not
going to hide my body and my being to benefit your delicate
sensitivities.

This picture is for the strange man at my nanny’s church who told me my belly was too big when I was five.

This picture is for my horseback riding trainer telling me I was too fat when I was nine.

This picture is for the girl from summer camp who told me I’d be really pretty if I just lost a few pounds

This picture is for all the f******
stupid advertising agents who are selling us cream to get rid of our
stretch marks, a perfectly normal thing most people have (I got mine
during puberty)

This picture is for the boy at the party who told me I looked like a beached whale.

This picture is for Emily from middle
school, who bullied me incessantly, made mocking videos about me, sent
me nasty emails, and called me “lard”. She made me feel like I didn’t
deserve to exist. Just because I happened to be bigger than her. I was
12. And she continued to bully me via social media into high school.

MOST OF ALL, this picture is for me.
For the girl who hated her body so much she took extreme measures to try
to change it. Who cried for hours over the fact she would never be
thin. Who was teased and tormented and hurt just for being who she was.